


oxygen

by broken_halleluiah



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, because I really think they needed to talk a lot more, mild sexy talk, set after "We Need to Talk"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 20:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5470238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broken_halleluiah/pseuds/broken_halleluiah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Those dudes in sci-fi movies never seemed this nervous before they made love to alien babes. But those dudes in sci-fi movies had obviously never met anyone like her.” // Fusion didn’t go as expected. Greg and Rose have false starts with the human stuff, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	oxygen

**Author's Note:**

> I've read several fics where Greg introduced Rose to the concept of human lovin', but, especially following their conversation in "We Need to Talk," I've developed an alternate headcanon. There’s probably a version of this story somewhere that is actual smut and doesn’t degenerate into painfully awkward miscommunication, but, um, they say to write what you know. :)

It had to be hard for her to remember that he needed to breathe.

That had been a problem the night she showed him the temple ruins up on a mountain peak where the air was a tad bit too thin for human lungs, and he had passed out dangerously close to a crumbling cliff face.

It was less of a problem now, but he still didn’t want to stop kissing her. To avoid another loss-of-consciousness fiasco, though, Greg gently pushed Rose back and turned his head aside, trying not to pant too audibly.

“Are you alright?” she whispered against his ear.

“Better than alright,” he mumbled in response. Everything was fuzzy around the edges again, and almost unbearably warm, and…. oh. Greg’s cheeks burned as he glanced down. He scrambled for the shirt that had been discarded he-can’t-remember-when and draped it over his lap, laughing even as he blushed. “I just got a little bit… _excited_ , that’s all.”

Rose smiled. “I don’t blame you. This is all very exciting.”

She moved to kiss him again, but he pulled away after just a moment. “Wait. Um, just...  just a second.” He fought to construct a sentence, despite the blood pounding in his ears, among other places.

Rose glanced down at the shirt folded over his lap. “Is something wrong?”

“I have to tell you about something.”

“Okay.”

Greg’s hands found his way into his hair, combing through it thoughtlessly. “So… when a human is really crazy about somebody- a-and really wants to be with that person, there’s... um, there can sometimes be this physical reflex that kicks in… ”

He glanced over to see Rose licking her lips, a mischievous glint in her eye. “That’s quite the sailor’s mouth you’ve got there, Mr. Universe.”

And his sailor’s mouth dropped open. “Okay, how long were you going to let me keep talking?” he demanded.

“A little longer. It was just getting _interesting_ ," she purred.

“I mean, I know you said you'd loved humans before, but I wasn't sure if you meant… like this.”

She nodded silently. He nodded, too, rubbing his neck uncomfortably. “Sorry. I didn't want to presume sex was even something you did, you know?”

Now that he thought about it, he was more embarrassed to have presumed that she _hadn’t_ , and that he needed to launch into a scientific explanation of the birds and bees. She'd been on Earth literally for millennia, and he hadn’t exactly written the manual on the subject, or anything.

He drummed his fingers on the ground. “But, um… i-is it something you _like_ to do?” Marty used to brag a lot about how easy it was to get girls to do stuff that they hated, if he simply threatened to go away. Rose’s hand closed over his, and that was a thrill in itself. “Because… you know...  it’s fine if we don’t.”

A coy smile twitched at her lips. She fiddled with his fingers absently. “You know, Greg, it’s been a couple of centuries, but my memories are _quite_ positive.”

Centuries. He swallowed, eyes flitting down to the folds of her dress. “So you do… you have a h-human form, then?”

“Not at the moment....” She lifted his hand and squeezed it, leaning forward to purr in his ear. “But I can shapeshift one whenever I want to.” Her lips inched down and pressed against his neck. He shivered involuntarily. “Whenever I _need_ to.”

Surely she could feel the sweat forming on his palm, if she couldn’t see it beading on his forehead. He swallowed again. Those dudes in sci-fi movies never seemed this nervous before they made love to alien babes. But those dudes in sci-fi movies had obviously never met anyone like her.

“Shapeshifting. Ah. R-right.” Their lips met again, and Greg drew back after an even shorter and more desperate kiss. “Well, I can’t. Just so you know.”

She frowned. “You can’t what?”

“I can’t shapeshift,” he blurted out. “So what you see is kind of what you get, in that respect.”

Her frown deepened for a split second, and then her eyes lit with wild amusement. Rose pressed a hand over her mouth and drew back, giggling uncontrollably. Heat prickled the back of Greg’s ears.

“Never mind.” She couldn't seem to stop laughing now. “Aw, Rose, forget I said anything. It wasn’t that funny.”

“Sorry. I'm sorry.” Rose covered her mouth, trying hard to calm her spasms of giggles. “Oh, I did it again, didn't I? Oh, I didn’t mean to.” Guilt danced in her eyes with the last sparkles of mirth she hadn’t extinguished.

“Aw, I know,” he said, succumbing to anxious laughter, too. “I guess I’m just a little freaked out.”

Her expression softened further. “Because I’m an alien?”

He shook his head. She was an alien. An actual extraterrestrial. And that wasn’t what was blowing his mind. “Because I’m- I’m crazy about you.”

“I’m crazy about you, too. And that’s why I’m not so worried about it.”  She squeezed his hand one last time, and then let it go. “But it's okay if you need to catch your breath first.”

Greg wasn’t sure if he would catch his breath again for the rest of his life. Maybe he didn’t want to. After a few moments of steady breathing, he grabbed her cheek and got lost, in another instant, in a swirl of pink curls and pink lips.

Maybe oxygen was overrated after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this pairing is much more popular on fanfiction.net, but do you know what would happen if I posted it there? My father would get an email alert. He followed my account many moons ago and still reads all my stories. I know this is pretty tame for the world of the internet, but still the naughtiest thing I’ve ever written... er, posted.
> 
> And now, for your enjoyment, a brief deleted scene:
> 
> Rose: So... WHAT exactly do you want me to shape shift?
> 
> Greg: *breathes into a paper bag and realizes he is way in over his head in the best way possible*


End file.
